Now that the summer visiting crush is over, the stunning Natural History Museum in Exposition Park has a FREE admission day — well, make that four free Tuesdays in September. That means no paying the piper on Sept. 3, 10, 17, 24. That’s a savings of $12 per adult admission!

You can visit the extraodinary renovated Dinosaur Hall with 300 real fossils and the only trio of different aged T. rex specimens in the world, all for free. Walk through the new 3.5-acre Nature Gardens then wander back inside to explore life at the new Nature Lab. What else does the museum offer?

L.A.’s 2nd oldest cultural institution and the West’s largest natural and historical museum holds 35 million specimens and artifacts. Its Gem and Mineral Hall glitters with the largest US collection of gold.

Climb the wide sweeping marble staircases of the 1913 building to reach The Discovery Center filled with live snakes, fish, lizards and the largest live Insect Zoo in the West. Spend hours making fossil rubbings, touching animal pelts and handling nature specimens here.

Natural History Museum Nature Gardens

Be sure to take advantage of the free award-winning tours and hands-on opportunities. Every day, including free admission Tuesdays, you can join a Gallery interpreter at 1 p.m. who shares stories about the museum’s collections. The 2 p.m. Gallery Highlights Tour was voted the Best Museum Tour by L.A. Magazine in 2012. Kids will love meeting a live animal between 3 – 3:30 p.m. and the nature walk at 4 p.m. Get the deets on where to meet HERE.

In October, free admission days return to the first Tuesday of the month: Oct. 1, Nov. 5, Dec. 3. Save on expensive parking by taking the Metro’s Exposition line to the museum. Go Metro on a regular admission day and you’ll save $1.25 off the admission price.